1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to connector means for printed circuit boards. In particular, the present invention relates to a pair of matching male and female connector means for providing firm and secure electrical connection between two printed circuit boards.
2. Technical Background
Board-to-board connector means for connecting two separate printed circuit boards are known. In general, male and female connectors having matching electrical contact terminal means are each fixedly attached to one of the pair of printed circuits to be connected together. Conventional board-to-board connector means are varied in configuration. They are generally utilized in the connection, or relaying, of a number of electrical signals between the two separate printed circuit boards.
Several disadvantages are present in conventional board-to-board connector means. For example, many of the connector means employing straight-line type of contact electrical conducting terminals when subjected to pressure become buckled in shape during the process of being inserted into their respectively assigned spaces in the plastic body of the connector means. A connector means having one or more buckled contact metal contact terminals is considered defective and may cause problem of unstable or even failed electrical connection if used in printed circuit boards.
If any one of the contact terminals is not properly installed in the containing space of a connector body, it may be damaged when the matching male or female connector is connected thereto when the connection between the two connectors is attempted. Such connection frequently results in a damaged contact terminal, since the contact terminal not properly in place would inevitably be twisted and subjected to un-normal mechanical stress. In addition to the physical damage to the connector itself, there is also the probability of an electrical signal becoming short circuited between the neighboring contact signal paths.
Mating made between a pair of connectors is normally oriented in a predetermined direction. In other words, each of the contact terminals in one connector normally has a fixed matching relationship with a corresponding contact terminal in the other of two mating connectors. Carelessness in the process of making a connection may mis-align the orientation in the connection, and the forced mating of two incorrectly aligned connectors would damage the connector bodies and result in erroneous connection of the electrical signals between two printed circuit boards. On some occasions, a misaligned connector connection results in electrical damage to the circuitries in either or both of the two printed circuit boards.
Certain types of connectors have connector contact terminal pins extending out of the plastic body of the connector. These contact terminal pins, due to their requirement to be inserted into the corresponding through-holes on the printed circuit board for soldering thereto, must have sections sufficiently long that are exposed out of the plastic body of the connector. These solder pins are easily bent and may obscure the smooth and proper insertion of each and every pin into the corresponding through-holes in the printed circuit board. The result would sometimes be that certain bent pins are not inserted into the holes at all, causing failure of electrical signal contact, or the bent pins short circuit the pins next to them.
Moreover, as the physical dimensions of the modern connectors are becoming smaller, the tolerance between the contact pins at the end of soldering and the corresponding containing space is so small to cause a capillary phenomena that sucks solder upwards. This results in poor soldering quality downward in the through-hole.